Afghan interpreters 'abandoned' by MoD after being wounded

Afghan interpreters serving on the frontline with British troops have accused the Ministry of Defence of abandoning them when they are badly wounded and denying them the care they were promised.

By Ben Farmer in Kabul

6:22PM BST 18 Apr 2010

One interpreter maimed in a bomb blast said he was denied essential plastic surgery because he was not British. Another said he was abandoned in a coma in an Afghan hospital, then left with medical bills.

Both said the MoD had promised them desk jobs when they recovered, but they remained unemployed.

Ten of their fellow interpreters in Helmand province resigned in protest at their treatment, they said.

The Ministry of Defence in London disputed their claims, but they were backed by two other interpreters interviewed by the Daily Telegraph.

Nato-led forces are reliant on civilian interpreters to translate conversations into Dari and Pashtu when they interact with local people or Afghan forces.

The Ministry of Defence employs 450 Afghans as interpreters. Fourteen have been killed and 27 wounded in the past four years.

Shafiullah Hotak, 23, signed up for the £400-a-month interpreters' position in early 2007, translating for British troops including the Royal Marines and 2 Para, helping them mentor Afghan soldiers in Helmand.

But 20 months into his job, he was badly wounded when a Taliban home-made bomb went off in Gereshk district.

Mr Hotak said British recruiters had never explicitly discussed medical care, but had assured his that he would be "well looked after".

"They said: 'We will take care of you guys, don't worry about anything'."

Another interpreter said they had been verbally told they would get the same treatment as the British troops.

But in the Aug 2008 attack, he lost large amounts of muscle from his left arm in the explosion. After five days of emergency treatment at Camp Bastion, he said he was told he could not have plastic surgery because of a lack of surgeons.

"They gave me emergency surgery and after that they told me you need to go home and do your treatment yourself. Because I wasn't British, they didn't take me to Birmingham with the other wounded.

"When the British told me that, I was in a bed, I couldn't even move myself." He was eventually given plastic surgery by US forces in Bagram airbase, north of Kabul, but has lost much use of his left arm. He could not continue his frontline job, was not given the promised office job and was eventually fired, he claimed.

Another interpreter who received severe facial injuries after being caught in a separate blast declined to be named, fearing he would be blacklisted from working with international forces.

After treatment in Camp Bastion, he was transferred unconscious to an Afghan hospital and his family were only contacted a week later when doctors found a phone number in his pocket.

He said he had been left with £1,200 of outpatient medical bills and also not given the desk job he was promised.

Farid, a 22-year-old colleague who resigned after seeing what had happened to Mr Hotak, said: "When we were working with the British, they were our friends. When we were injured, they didn't care about us."

Wounded interpreters working for American forces have also complained

of poor care, claiming insurance companies can take months to pay their medical bills. The private company supplying interpreters for American forces last year admitted it had at one point a backlog of more than 170 insurance claims from wounded staff.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said Afghan civilian employees were given a "high standard of medical treatment".

She said: "While it is not appropriate to comment on the medical records of an individual, we have investigated and can find no evidence that the standards of care were breached in the case you highlight.

"Follow up checks are carried out and further medical care is offered if necessary. There is no evidence to suggest that these processes were not followed in Mr Hotak's case."

She added: "We are not aware of any instances where an individual has been denied work due to having spoken with the press or where medical treatment procedures have not been followed."